1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a firmware update apparatus and program suitable for use in mixing of audio signals in a concert hall, a recording studio, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known audio signal processing system used in a concert hall, a recording studio, or the like, devices constituting the system exchange audio signals and control signals through a network. One example of the system is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-17084. The devices constituting the system include a console that is manipulated by the user, an engine which performs mixing or the like on audio signals, and an I/O unit for controlling a microphone, a speaker, or the like. Each device is controlled by a CPU and includes a memory that stores a firmware to enable control by the CPU. The firmware is often updated to correct bugs or add new functions. While each device's manufacturer provides the latest version of its firmware over the Internet or the like, the device's owner decides whether or not to download and update the firmware.
It is necessary to update the versions of firmwares of devices so as not to cause incompatibility (conflicts) between the firmwares. For example, the console and the engine operate normally when both the versions of the firmwares of the console and the engine are “1.00” and also operate normally when both the versions are “2.00”. However, the console and the engine may operate abnormally, for example, when the version of the firmware of the console is “1.00” while the version of the firmware of the engine is “2.00”. Of course, this is taken into consideration when the manufacturers of the devices provide the latest versions of the firmwares over the Internet or the like and thus no conflict can occur between firmwares, provided that the latest versions of the firmwares are applied to all devices.
However, even when manufacturers provide latest versions of the firmwares of all devices, the user may not desire to or unable to update the firmwares of all devices to the latest versions. The reasons are mostly as follows.
(1) First, the latest version of the firmware may have bugs that do not exist in the past version. As a result, users may not desire to update the version of the firmware when the new version does not provide a function that is commonly used in the past version.
(2) In addition, there is always the risk of bugs even when whether or not bugs are incorporated into the latest version is not clear. Thus, most users may desire to use the old version of the firmware without update if the old version operates reliably, for example, when the performance of a concert is coming up soon.
(3) Further, a long time may be required to update the versions of firmwares of a number of devices. That is, hundreds of devices are used in a large-scale event although the time required to update each device is not too long. In this case, the agent rarely owns all required devices and mostly rents devices from a plurality of rental companies. Compatibility between firmwares of the devices is not guaranteed since the owners (or rental companies) of the devices are different. Mostly, devices are rented immediately before a concert or the like begins to reduce rental costs and thus it is not possible to secure a sufficient time to update the versions of firmwares of the devices.
(4) Moreover, the owners (or rental companies) may not agree with updating the versions of the firmwares of the rented devices.
For these reasons, there has been a demand to restrict updating of firmwares of devices within a range that does not cause conflicts, rather than updating firmwares of all devices constituting the audio signal processing system to the latest versions. However, to accomplish this, it is necessary for the user to perform very complicated tasks to manage firmware versions so as to avoid conflicts.